The first tranche of the last-16 second legs did not thrill but there were plenty of outstanding individual displays. This selection comes in a 3-4-3 formation.
Goalkeeper: Real Madrid did not have it easy against RB Leipzig. Not at all. Rather like the first leg, in fact. As so often down the years in the competition, Madrid’s back line lead the way. Andriy Lunin continued his breakout season, making save after save, narrowing angles and organising his defenders, as Leipzig attacked in waves. Leipzig’s Benjamin Šeško, who had multiple chances in Madrid, will probably never forget Lunin, who won their personal duel, including one, dominant, smothering early save that set the tone.
Defender: Having missed the Manchester derby, Manuel Akanji, the dependable Swiss defender, showed off his versatility, playing in the centre and on the right against Copenhagen. With Rico Lewis starting on the right and struggling, Akanji showed the adaptability that makes him such a useful option for Pep Guardiola. The £16m City paid for him in 2022 remains a bargain.
Defender: Real Madrid almost lurched towards the exit at the hands of RB Leipzig’s energetic attack. At times across both ties, Carlo Ancelotti’s tactics appeared outdated against one of the continent’s modern, prime high-pressing, interchangeable teams. There will, though, always be a home in football for old-style, grim-faced defenders and Nacho has forever supplied that for Madrid. On his 350th Real appearance, his club’s 122 birthday, Nacho showed, as he put it, that “we know the demands of this club.”
Defender: If Real Sociedad were disappointing in San Sebastián against PSG, then plenty of credit ought to be handed over to an opponent who showed off uncharacteristic organisation in defence for a club synonymous with an all-out-attack mindset. Do we have a new star? A January arrival from São Paulo, and playing in the continuing absence of Marquinhos, 21-year-old Lucas Beraldo showed why he was a recent call-up to the Brazilian national team. While he offers the ferocity in the tackle, his passing out of defence helped his team move smoothly into attack, too.
Defensive midfielder: Talking of breakout stars. As Bayern Munich prepare to enter a new era, with widespread talk of clearouts, Thomas Tuchel’s planned departure and a team growing old together, the next generation seems more than likely to coalesce around Aleksandar Pavlović. The defensive midfielder was Bayern’s most important player against Lazio, dominating the Italians in the first half in particular. The stats were impressive: 94% passes completed, only losing possession six times from 97 touches. “[He] wants to have every ball,” said Joshua Kimmich, who knows a bit about playing in midfield.
Midfielder: Fabián Ruiz has never quite won the hearts of the Parisian public, and been seen as emblematic of his club’s decline. His performance at La Real was one to throw back in the face of the critics. Ruiz rattled off a series of passes to PSG’s forwards as his team took control of the match in the first half. In the second, his distribution was crucial to PSG retaining their threat on the counter.
Attacking midfielder: Dani Olmo is a unique talent. He had an odd pathway too: a Catalan beginning his career at Dinamo Zagreb before becoming Leipzig’s creative inspiration. He and Xavi Simons interchanged as No 10s as Madrid struggled with Leipzig’s movement. The pair supplied Šeško and Loïs Openda with their many chances. Olmo’s delicate control and lob almost took the tie into extra-time only for it to bounce clear. That concluded the latest demonstration from a player of high class, wanted across Europe.
Attacking midfielder: Guardiola once described Matheus Nunes as “one of the best players in the world” when he was at Sporting Lisbon, but Nunes has not quite lived up to his billing since joining Manchester City from Wolves. But as City reshuffled their pack against Copenhagen, Nunes gave one of his more useful performances in making runs from midfield into the opposing defence. He has some way to go to displace the likes of Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden but his performance, curtailed by a finger injury, was a step forward.
Forward: If this Bayern Munich team is coming to its end, then Thomas Müller is likely to lead the list of departures. Though would Bayern be Bayern without Müller? He remains a highly useful player, and at 34, his ability to ghost into space, and predict where the ball will land, seems almost eternal. Perhaps he is a player out of time in an era of heavy physical demands but his header for Harry Kane’s opener and then his reading of Matthijs de Ligt’s scraped volley to score was prime Müller. He at least would like to sign off with another Champions League title to his name.
Forward: As Bayer Leverkusen streak away with the Bundesliga and talk of regime change fills the Bavarian air, there also hangs heavy the ridiculous notion that Harry Kane has been a flop in German football. And yet he is joint-top scorer in the Champions League and well clear in the Bundesliga in that category. His double against Lazio, the first a vintage centre-forward’s header, the second a poacher’s finish after a rebound, showed the evergreen importance of a top goalscorer.
Forward: His future lies away from Paris – almost certainly in Madrid – but before moving to Spain on a permanent basis, a visit to the Basque Country showed why Kylian Mbappé at his best is the best around. Two goals, both from his favoured inside-left channel, powered PSG through. His Paris mission is not complete, and he terrified La Real. His sheer presence on the counter, his bursts through defenders are reminiscent of prime Ronaldo – the Brazilian one.
